MSU basketball: Spartans squander lead, then survive

Solid victory nearly slips away before Green's late putback

Jan. 4, 2011

Find the open man: MSU's Draymond Green gets a pass off between Northwestern's John Shurna (left) and Luka Mirkovic. Green had the game's critical play with a rebound and put-back basket off a Spartan missed free throw in the final minute. / Charles Cherney/Associated Press

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Michigan State 65

Northwestern 62

i key stretch

After Draymond Green's putback put MSU up 65-62 with 12 seconds left, the Wildcats hurried down to look for a quick 3-pointer. Michael Thompson appeared to be open, but MSU freshman Keith Appling leaped in the way to contest the shot, getting a piece of it in the process. Northwestern would not get a good 3-point look in that final stretch.

i UNSUNG HERO

Speaking of Appling, he was a defensive force for the Spartans. Along with the late contested shot, he blocked five Northwestern shots in the game. He also picked up eight points, making a pair of 3-point shots, and grabbed five rebounds to help the Spartans to a 45-33 edge on the boards.

i quotable

"At the end of the day, no one's gonna look back and say that we almost lost that game. ... We're 2-0 in the Big Ten."

- MSU junior forward Draymond Green

"I don't even know what happened."

- MSU senior guard Kalin Lucas, on the Wildcats' late 12-0 run to get within a point

i what's next

The Spartans will stay on the road after some extra time to prepare. They'll travel Saturday to play Penn State (1 p.m., Big Ten Network). The Nittany Lions are 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten entering Wednesday's home game against Purdue. After that MSU, returns home for a Jan. 11 date with Wisconsin.

EVANSTON, Ill. - Fits and starts. Still as much a part of Michigan State's basketball routine as picks and rolls.

In those fluid spurts between the needless turnovers and reach-in fouls, flashes of a potent basketball team emerge. And just when it looks like that team might be here to stay ... the mischievous impostors show up and do quick damage.

The No. 18 Spartans steadily built a 63-50 lead here Monday against a pretty good Northwestern team.

Then watched it dissolve to a single point with less than 30 seconds to play.

Then held on for a 65-62 victory. Draymond Green was a key figure on both counts.

Green threw a pass away, committed a charge and missed the front end of a one-and-one to feed the Wildcats' 12-0 run in a span of 2:33.

"A lot of that fell on my part," he said.

He then bulled his way to the rim as Kalin Lucas missed the front end of another one-and-one, with MSU up 63-62 and 13.7 ticks remaining. Green grabbed the ball over John Shurna and dropped it in with 12 seconds left, and the Spartans did not let the Wildcats get a good 3-point look in the final sequence.

"You expect your best players to make plays at the end, and he made one," MSU coach Tom Izzo said of Green, "so for that I'm really happy for him."

And, mostly, happy with his team's play.

"I'm not gonna let two minutes ruin 38," Izzo said after MSU (10-4 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) improved to 16-3 in its past 19 Big Ten road games, "because I think Northwestern is a very, very good basketball team."

The Wildcats advanced the ball quickly down the floor after Green's putback. Keith Appling leaped to contest and graze a forced 3-point shot from Michael Thompson that just nicked the rim.

"I communicated a switch to Korie," said Appling, who had five of MSU's 12 blocked shots, "and I just wanted to get out to the shot."

It went out of bounds to Northwestern with 0.8 showing and the Wildcats called a timeout.

MSU took one, too, and the end result was a Drew Crawford heave that didn't get close to the rim.

"We just missed a few free throws and had a few costly turnovers," Green said of the finish. "But we couldn't get down about it, we had to fight to the end."

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Northwestern's late run started harmlessly enough with Korie Lucious missing the front end of a one-and-one with 3:09 left, then a Thompson jumper with 3 minutes showing to make it 63-52.

Lucas missed a layup, Thompson made a layup. Green threw a pass away, a lob to Lucious.

"It's a play that can be great, it's a play that can be awful," Green said of the attempt. "That one was awful."

Davide Curletti nailed a 3-pointer with 1:56 left.

Green then rebounded two straight Durrell Summers 3-point shots, was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Thompson buried a deep 3-pointer with 1:13 left, and suddenly it was 63-60.

Green raced the ball down the court and was called for a charge. And Thompson finally got it down to a single point with 27 seconds left, connecting inside.

"We just got a little out of whack and I'm the one that needs to be blamed for that," said Izzo of not taking a timeout during the comeback.

Before the late trouble, it was looking like another comfortable victory for MSU in Evanston, where it won the previous six by an average margin of 14 points.

Green had 15 points and 11 rebounds, Summers and Lucas scored 12 apiece, and Delvon Roe - working well with Green - had eight points and 10 boards.

MSU's defense held the Wildcats to 31.6 percent shooting, and the Spartans won 45-33 on the boards. Even with the late turnovers, MSU had a positive assist-turnover ratio (20-14).

Crawford scored 17 to lead the Wildcats, while leading scorer Shurna came up with 11 points, half his average. Shurna is still recovering from a left ankle sprain, but Roe's defense on him was very good for much of the night.

Just like MSU's overall play.

"At the end of the day," Green said, "no one's gonna look back and say we almost lost that game."